Posted by Mary E. on June 06, 1999 at 16:24:40:
DLRM SAYS NO TO GM ANIMAL ORGANS FOR HUMAN TRANSPLANTS
Story Filed: Wednesday, June 02, 1999 8:28 AM EST
LONDON, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- An international alliance of doctors, veterinarians and lawyers meets in London on June 10 to launch a steering committee
calling for a global ban on the transplantation of organs from genetically modified pigs into humans.
The alliance, known as Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine (DLRM), describes the concept of animal-to-human transplants (Xenotransplantation)
as "a transplant surgeon's dream, but a virologist's nightmare."
Keynote speaker will be Dr. Neal Barnard, a Washington DC, physician, nutritionist and lecturer who is president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine in the USA.
Veterinary surgeon Andre Menache who works for the Israeli Ministry of Health will be one of the speakers at the launch being staged at London's Columbia
Hotel.
In a telephone interview from Tel Aviv he warned that pigs carry many so called "retro viruses" that are dangerous to humans, and "that these are the same class as
the Aids virus".
Dr. Manche recalled the recent death of 100 people in Malaysia after being bitten by mosquitoes carrying a virus from pigs. "This resulted in the slaughter of more
than half a million pigs to safeguard the local population," he added.
Therefore, the transplantation of organs from pigs into humans "is extremely dangerous because nobody knows what these viruses will do when they enter the
human body."
The DLRM says laboratory-bred pig organs differ from human organs in their longevity, their metabolism and their resistance to disease. They also carry a whole
range of known and unknown viral and even sub-viral particles some of which cannot be picked up, however careful the screening procedures.
Over the past 20 years there have been some 40 animal-to-human organ transplants, mostly in the US and India. DLRM says all the patients died shortly after
surgery.
DLRM Steering Committee members:
* Dr. Eddie Moore: (UK) Xenotransplantation or the Prevention of
End-stage Organ Failure
* Dr. Neal Barnard: (USA) Reversing Heart Disease Through a Healthier
Diet
* Dr. Andre Menache: (ISRAEL) Xenotransplantation is a dangerous and
highly experimental technique
* Dr. Erik Millstone: (UK) The incidence of heart disease could be almost
halved if people modified their diets and lifestyles.
* Dr. Paul Layman: (UK) Natural Therapies
SOURCE Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine